Oettinger, Stars edge Canadiens in shootout for 7th straight win 

MONTREAL -- The Dallas Stars extended their winning streak to seven games with a 2-1 shootout win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.

Jason Robertson scored the only goal in the tiebreaker. Jamie Benn scored, and Jake Oettinger made 30 saves for Dallas (27-13-1), which is on its longest winning streak since eight straight from March 16-April 3, 2024.

“The points are critical,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole early from the teams at the top, so we’re slowly closing that gap. But it’s not an easy gap to close in this League. You’ve got to put together streaks like this, and when you get on one you want to keep it going as long as possible.”

Dallas, which has won five straight on the road, has points in nine consecutive games (8-0-1), its longest point streak since going 11-0-1 from Oct. 29-Nov. 25, 2019.

The Stars are in third place in the Central Division with 55 points, six points behind the first-place Winnipeg Jets.

“It feels like no one ever loses in our division, so it’s going to be tight down to the end,” Oettinger said.

Patrik Laine scored a power-play goal after missing the previous four games because of illness, and Sam Montembeault made 34 saves for Montreal (20-18-4), which had won three straight all past regulation.

The Canadiens have 19 points (9-2-1) in their past 12 games.

“Sam played an excellent game,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “I liked our game. We had no passengers, all the guys were involved. We played a mature game. On back-to-back games, maybe we didn’t have our legs early but we did enough to deserve two points tonight, we just didn’t get them. But it’s a big point.”

Laine gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 15:14 of the second period with his ninth goal of the season, all of which have come on the power play. He drove a one-timer from the outside edge of the left face-off circle that deflected in off the stick of Stars defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin during a 5-on-3 advantage.

“It’s always not fun to miss games so it was good to be back,” Laine said. “I didn’t feel awful and I felt I had a pretty decent game, but that’s about it.”

Nick Suzuki and Lane Hutson assisted on the goal, the sixth time the pair has combined to set up a power-play goal by Laine. Suzuki, who scored in overtime in each of the past two games, extended his point streak to six games (two goals, six assists).

“I feel like we definitely, after the first, improved and had every opportunity, like they did, to win the game,” Laine said. “But at the end of the day, we couldn’t score in the shootout and before that so it’s just unfortunate.”

Benn tied it 1-1 at 17:34. He drove the inside edge of the left face-off circle and scored on a wrist shot past Montembeault stick side to extend his point streak to five games (four goals, one assist).

“He always makes a contribution but he’s sticking the puck in the net,” DeBoer said of the Stars captain. “He’s playing with a lot of confidence and he’s a big part of what we’re doing here.”

NOTES: Linesman Michel Cormier was struck low on his right leg by a Lyubushkin slap shot right after he dropped the puck for the face-off at center ice following Laine’s goal. Cormier was helped off the ice and did not return. … Benn has 34 point streaks of at least five games during his 16-year career with the Stars. Only Mike Modano (42) has more in franchise history. … Laine is only the second NHL player since 1933-34 to score his first nine goals of the season on the power play. Montreal’s Yvan Cournoyer scored his first 11 goals on the power play in 1966-67 after scoring his first 10 goals on the power play the previous season. ... Canadiens defenseman David Savard played 12:56 and blocked three shots after missing four games with an upper-body injury.